Food Product Photography, Behind the Scenes

A meal prep kitchen, a pie launch and an artisan cookie maker.

By Andras Dietrich

How does a food product shoot change for different food producers?

A food product shoot changes with the producer. A meal prep company needs the food exactly as it comes off the production line, then plated and as it is sent. A factory pie launch needs the perfect cut on very few samples. An artisan maker needs four of each flavour, because handmade food never looks the same twice.

Three food producers. Three very different days behind the scenes.

How do you photograph meal prep straight from the production kitchen?

Fresh food, made at scale, on steel benches. I shot it straight from the production line and kept it as real as possible.

Why? So there is no surprise. What you see in the picture is what arrives.

Then every product two more ways: plated, and exactly how it is sent.

Rows of meal prep trays of chicken and couscous on a steel bench in a production kitchen, photographed straight off the line for a meal prep company — Straight off the line. What you see is what arrives.

The same meal prep chicken and couscous plated on a speckled white plate with fresh herbs, showing the customer how it can be served — The same meal, plated.

A single meal prep tray of chicken and couscous on a dark teal background, photographed exactly as it is sent to customers — As it is sent.

How do you shoot a pie launch with only four samples?

This one was for Port Royal, a factory making 10,000s of products a day. The pie was still in R&D, so I had four of them. Four. That was nerve-wracking.

The job was the perfect cut, to show the filling. That is where the very sharp knife in my bag earns its place. One clean cut and the filling tells the story.

I worked together with the packaging designer. It worked. The pie is on supermarket shelves now.

Behind the scenes of a pie product shoot: R&D pies on a wooden board, one cut open to show the filling, with a Kasumi chef's knife — Four pies. One clean cut.

Andras Dietrich holding the finished Port Royal pie box in his studio, with lights and a green backdrop behind — The finished pack.

Port Royal chicken pie and mutton pie boxes on a supermarket shelf — On the shelf.

Three Port Royal patties broken open on a wooden board to show the fillings, with hot pepper sauce, a side salad and chips — Port Royal patties, cut open to show the filling.

Why ask an artisan producer for four of each flavour?

A range of organic cookies, all handmade. I asked for four of each flavour.

Handmade means every cookie is a little different. That is the beauty of it. But I need options to find the one that shows it best.

Behind the scenes of an artisan organic cookie shoot: handmade cookies laid out on a wooden table, lemon and herbs styled on a grey board, and the shot reviewed on a laptop — Four of each flavour.

The full range of handmade cookies photographed overhead, each flavour styled with its own ingredients: pistachio, cranberry, white chocolate, hazelnut, lemon, orange and cherry — The finished range. Every flavour styled with what is in it.

What does food styling add to food product marketing?

The story. Before I style anything I ask what the picture has to do: who buys this, and when do they use it?

Then I keep it real. No fake grill marks, no peppers in every colour just for show. I cooked professionally for 10 years, so I know how real food behaves under the light, and how to make it look as good as it tastes.

Big production line, factory, small artisan. Same question first, every time.

Making food at any scale?

Send me the product and where it needs to show up. I will tell you what the pictures need to do.

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